1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a server device and method for providing an e-mail transaction service, and an information recording medium storing a program for realizing the service.
Particularly, the present invention relates to a server device and method for preferably providing an e-mail service while preventing unwanted e-mails or junk e-mails (spam e-mails), and also a computer readable information recording medium recording a program for realizing the above service.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the Internet has been in common use, the technique for exchanging e-mails between Internet users has been more important.
In the technique for exchanging e-mails, user information specifying the Internet users are managed by a corresponding e-mail server device. The e-mail server device transmits e-mails using an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).
Using the SMTP technique, once the e-mail server device receives an e-mail, the server device determines whether the addressee of the e-mail is a user's address managed by the server device itself. If so, the e-mail server device stores the e-mail in a spool area retained in the hard disk of the user.
The user retrieves and views e-mails addressed to himself/herself, by directly referring to the spool area or using a POP (Post Office Protocol) or IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) technique.
In the case where the addressee of the e-mail does not correspond to any users' addresses managed by the e-mail server device, the e-mail server device passes the e-mail to an e-mail server device managing the corresponding user's e-mail address, for example in a bucket-relay manner, using the SMTP technique, etc.
Along with the wide spread use of the WWW (World Wide Web) technique, it is more likely that users show their own e-mail address on business cards, or show it on their own personal Web site.
Thus shown e-mail address may often be searched using some kind of system. In this case, junk mails or any unwanted e-mails may automatically be sent to the searched e-mail address. Because such junk mails or the like are sent to the e-mail address, the user of the e-mail address may sometimes miss necessary e-mails, or it take quite a long time for retrieving e-mails.
The above problem may be preventable, if the user prepares different e-mail addresses to other users to be communicating with. Since e-mail users usually exchange e-mails with a large number of other users, the above method is so troublesome to prepare the plurality of e-mail addresses to other users, respectively.
There is a great demand for a technique for actively preventing unwanted e-mails.